Category: Junior Literary

Has anyone told you that you are appreciated? Have you been told that someone is proud of you for your accomplishments? 

Well, if no one else has or if you’ve received these words of affirmation in abundance, let me introduce myself. Hi, I’m Taylor Lafayette and I want you to think of me as your friend for a second. The person reading this may be a close friend, acquaintance, or a complete stranger, but I must let you know you are valued and I appreciate you. 

Kindness isn’t something shared in this world often enough. We turn on the television and find countless slanders and remarks of negativity. We turn to social media only to have yet another issue made clear. We turn to our friends oftentimes to see that they too struggle. 

If you are the strong friend of the group, you are often turned to for advice and guidance and are more than willing to offer it. But, oftentimes, your friends see you as “strong” so much that they don’t feel the need to return the favor. It’s not that they don’t care, they just don’t realize you also need the affirmation and appreciation.

I’ve learned that the reliable friend yields their emotional needs to tend to everyone else’s, and in the middle of it all, often forgets to check on themselves. Please, be selfish sometimes.

I am not saying completely ignore those around you, but do focus on yourself. Take time to make sure that your needs are addressed and that your emotional and mental wellness is up to par. How can you possibly take on everyone else’s problems while ignoring your own? (yes, I AM CALLING YOU OUT!!)

Trying to solve everyone’s problems but your own can be seen as a way of you avoiding yours. This is not healthy behavior, friend. I want to see you at your best self. I want your mental and emotional health to be at the highest it has ever been. I want you to find the value in yourself and appreciate it.

You are loved.

You are valued.

You will be successful and live out your dreams.

But, you must focus on yourself. You must learn to take care of yourself. You must remove yourself from the back burner and move it to the very first. 

Friend, 

You are already great and today and everyday from now you add to the world a beauty almost overwhelming. And we welcome it.

Remain Kind,

The Strong Friend.

 

 

 

 

 

11:11 on 11/11, I find myself reminiscing my life as a middle schooler as One Direction’s “Story of my Life” plays quietly from my phone. I remember when I would watch the music video on TeenNick’s Top 10, and sing each lyric in what I would hope was perfect harmony in the living room. Oh, to be that child once more. (sighs) Once again, much like most of my time, I find myself asking, why do we have to grow up?

As a small child, most can’t wait to grow into adolescence and then adulthood. The ignorance of reality that comes with being a child is a true blessing in disguise. No worrying about politics, laws, and presidential elections, just wondering if there is enough snacks to last the whole movie.

Oftentimes, I have taken my youth for granted. I miss being naïve and needy. I miss being cared for and looked after. I miss being simply clueless. But, I will only have to miss those things because now is the time where I must teach the naïve, care for the youth and make sure they aren’t too clueless.

The world’s changing and most children don’t have the luxury of being children anymore. They have to wave at their parents behind bars, never knowing when they can be held by them again. They have to be taught at a young age that they aren’t socially accepted. They have to worry about things no child should  ever have to worry about.

I know for a fact that me and many other teens of this generation can say that growing up is scary. The inevitable fate that is right around the corner mocks and taunts us. With each passing day, I become closer to that inevitable fate. But, I will not worry about it.

I will enjoy being a teenager. I will make mistakes that I will learn from. I will enjoy each moment with no regrets because each moment will be celebrated. Those moments will become memories that I will look back on to tell the next generation when they fear they’re growing older. 

I will be kind to those around me who struggle. I will try with each living breath in my body to make the world a little more tolerable. No kid should have adult fears while they are barely out of diapers. I want the next generation to experience the luxury of teenagehood. I want them to find their song that brings great memories and joy. I want to change the world so that my younger siblings won’t have to worry how I worry about them.

One Word. One Smile. One Change at a Time.

Don’t forget to moisturize for youthful skin friends,

A Girl Who Refuses To Be Afraid

capitalism breeds innovation. capitalism supports small businesses. capitalism works for the people. capitalism will never benefit large companies. capitalism will never put the needs of a corporation over the needs of its consumers.

and other lies we’ve been told.

as kids, we grow up with a HUGE imagination, especially kids who grow up to be artists. we think about road trips with friends, sitting on the dock at the reservoir, painting the warm horizon in front of us, or other ways to fulfill our lives. why, then, does this hope for the future quickly dissolve as soon as our little brains start developing more and more. is it a sense of maturity and staying realistic? or is it the fault of something larger, more powerful?

consider: the role of education. from the ripe old age of 5, we are placed in the care of authority that monitors our every move and thought. we have a meticulous schedule from 8:00 to 3:30 that tells us what to do, when to do it, and who to do it with. class, break, class, class, lunch, class, bell. it’s the same routine every single day, draining 7 and a half hours from our poor, underdeveloped brains and bodies. we still think it’s normal, but why?

why do we go from elementary schedules to middle schools, with the same boring and monotonous routine. then to high school, where the athletic kids can choose to do what they like in a fraction of their free time, but that’s about it. then, onto college, where if we’re not in classes, we’re working or studying. again, the same plot, just a different setting. we finally graduate college and get a job. where we sit at a desk. for 8 hours. doing the same thing we’ve been doing since we were 5 years old. 

nevermind the fact that public schools LEAP at the opportunity to train our impressionable populations to concede to capitalism, their efforts are worsened by the content of the indoctrination.

history classes teach sugarcoated versions of the past, straying farther and farther from the truth, the closer we get to the present. color photos are desaturated in order to make it seem like so much longer ago than it really was; we aren’t taught that the civil rights movement ended 23 years after the holocaust. will smith was born at the conclusion of the civil rights movement. celine dion. guy fieri. owen wilson. molly ringwald. shaggy. kenny chesney. all born in 1968.

capitalism thrives on misinformation and routine, which is what american children are being fed. this leads to dark roads of poverty, unfulfilling lives, and the spinning of wheels until one day, it all comes crumbling down.

So for those who don’t know what NaNoWriMo is – it stands for National November Writing Month! It is when authors plan in October and write a complete novel in just one month! There is an entire website dedicated to this kind of thing (here’s the link if you want it).  

But written below is the first chapter of a novel (name TBD) that I am writing with the website! I hope you’ll enjoy it and comments are welcomed!

Chapter 1: Water hemlock 
     Tod squats down, pointing at a small but fairly tall purple splotched plant that   had large triangular lacy leaves and multiple small clusters of tiny white flowers and calling out to his sister, Milly, to grab his leather-bound blank field journal, a pencil, and the old worn herbal book that he had sat on the ground over by the backdoor, along with his side-saddle leather bag that was just inside the door of the squint. 

     She jumped from where she had been standing behind him with a great gush of wind rustling the sibling’s hair and clothes as Milly pulled her magnitude of silky brown feathers out from the magical tattoos on her back. She spun on her heel and took a few steps away from her older brother - then she launched herself into the sky. 

     She flowed the small winding river creek back to the cottage, skimming just above the trees with her hair and her dress flapping in her face and swirling around in the wind. It was a very short distance for her, being able to sail on the wind instead of climbing over the large mushroom-infested roots of trees, crossing the clear and minnow filled creek, or stumbling up and down flowered and mossy covered hills. She gently dipped down and softly landed in the clearing just behind their home, pulling in her wings once she had settled on the ground. 

     She lightly ran up to the patio, past her aunt Raka (who was reading a new book on illusions), and pushed open the window-like door to the greenhouse. She leaned inside and grabbed Tod’s bag; then she walked by the back door, crouched down, and picked up tod’s stack of books. She then came and stood in front of her aunt, curious at a sight she hadn’t noticed before - her little brother Vory had found his way to the top of the roof of the cottage again and was preparing to jump off. 

     Milly pointed this fact out to Anut Raka and then ran over to the clearing. She pulled out her wings, causing the neatly cut grass beneath her feet to tremble in the wind her wings created and jumped into the air.

     After Milly had told Anut Raka the Vory was on the roof, aunt Raka placed her book in her lap (keeping her thumb between the pages) and looked up. 
“I’m ready Vory.” 
      She continued looking up, hearing the pounding of the young boy’s feet as he ran towards the edge of the roof. Raka watched as her nephew jumped over her head - and landed on the ground in front of her as a tiny grey fox with brown and black markings. She smiled, applauding, and praising his flawless transformation and his careful landing. 

      The tiny grey fox bounded over to his aunt’s feet and began to pat her on her leg. She picked her book off her lap; Vory wigged his tail and back legs to pounce and jumped up onto his aunt’s lap. She stroked his soft fur and wondered what her other nephew and niece were up to. 

      Milly dropped down through the trees and quickly slowed her fall with a couple quick flaps, creating a few bursts of air. She pulled her wings in, fixed her clothes and hair, and headed over to Tod. He was now sitting cross-legged under a tree with the river gently bubbling behind him. His spot was close to the plant he had found earlier, and he was chewing on some blackberries he had found while Milly was gone. 

      “Here’s your things.” Milly said, setting the bag down by what she thought was the plant from earlier and walking over toward Tod. She plopped down beside him and laid her head in his lap, closing her eyes.

 “Tod. I’m taking a nap now.” 

He sighed, stroking his fingers through her soft, silky brown hair. “Can I at least get my book?”

A grin spread across her face. “No.”

He sighed again. 

Milly sifted her shoulders, getting comfortable. “Did you think of what the plant is called?”

“Yeah. Water Hemlock. The whole plant is poisonous.” He reached up and tucked some of his sandy-grey hair that had fallen from his low ponytail behind his ear. “It grows by branching out, while the things it is mistaken for grow more straight up and aren't purple-ish. It likes to grow in wet marshy places like ditches, beside rivers and recently flooded fields - If I remember correctly.”

She glanced up at her brother. “You always remember.” 

He thought for a moment. “True.”

They sat without saying anything more, reveling in each other’s presence for a time. The sounds of the forest swelled to fill the silence, creating a soothing sound for both of them. 

“If my wings pop out, you can pet them if you want.” Milly said as she snuggled her shoulder into his thigh, not bothering to hide her smug smile. 

He looked down at her with a soft smile on his face, still petting her head.

“Of course.”

     Because of the recent presidential election, the phrase “voter fraud” has been pumped into the national conversation. Wikipedia defines voter fraud as an action that “involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share of rival candidates, or both.” During the course of his recent campaign, Donald Trump has repeatedly said, “The only way we are going to lose is if this election is rigged.” This false statement has effective built a distrust in the electoral process for his supporters, but they are being fed a misinformed narrative. Extensive research has proven that voter fraud is, in fact, extremely rare. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan law and policy institute, “Most reported incidents of voting fraud are actually traceable to other sources, such as clerical errors or bad data matching practices.” After meticulously studying voter fraud in elections, the organization found that it only occurred between 0.0003% and 0.0025%. This tells us that the majority of voter fraud allegations are baseless.

     When it comes to voting fraud, several myths exist, all of which can be debunked.

1.) “There have been thousands of instances of voter fraud.”

     The Brennan Center states, “A comprehensive 2014 study published in the Washington Post found 31 credible instances of impersonation fraud from 2000 to 2014, out of more than 1 billion ballots cast. Even this tiny number is likely inflated, as the study’s author counted not just prosecutions or convictions, but any and all credible claims.”

2.) “Voter Impersonation is rampant at the polls.”

     A twelve year study of election data found only 10 incidents of voter impersonation out of 146 million registered voters.

3.) “Undocumented immigrants are voting.”

     The Brennan Center for Justice reports that of the 23.5 million votes casted in districts with high noncitizen populations, only 30 cases of improper voting were reported and referred for further investigation.

4.) “Millions of Americans are voting twice.”

     Researchers analyzed the 2012 election and found that out of the 129,000,000 votes cast, only 0.02% were double votes, most of which were the result of a measurement error.

5.) “Voting by mail leads to increased voter fraud.”

     According to The Heritage Foundation, which is a conservative publication, Oregon, the state to longest conduct universal mail-in voting, has reported only 14 cases of voting fraud related to mail-in voting over the span of 19 years. 15 million votes were casted during this time.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_fraud

brennancenter.org

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/

https://prospect.org/

https://www.nbcnews.com/

https://www.heritage.org/

@/soyouwanttotalkabout on Instagram compiled this information and provided additional commentary on what they believe Donald Trump’s intentions are with making these false claims about voter fraud. The account is a great resource for those looking to educate themselves on American politics, prominent politicians’ values and histories, and the various social issues affecting our country. I definitely recommend checking them out!

TW: This blog contains mentions of suicide, death, and depression

Have you ever felt like you are the only barrier between someone living or taking their own life?  It is a horrible feeling to experience, especially when you cannot seem to convince them things get better.  Depression is a horrible mental illness, it makes everything seem dull and worthless, fake smiles, joyless laughter, emotionally dead.  This illness has plagued me and many others for many years, there is no way to experience it if you do not but its basically a world devoid of happiness, only numbness, sorrow, and anger.  

A lot of people dismiss depression as just a feeling of sadness that will pass, but this is a very inaccurate explanation.  Without treatment and/or counseling, depression will not get better.  It is a health condition, it effects your everyday life in more ways than you could ever understand.  

I have never been met with more despair than when one of my friends attempted suicide, and this being an online friendship I was not aware of her being saved until days after the event, the whole time of which I was hysterical.

Tonight, on this Wednesday, I am once again faced with having the same thing happen again; but I won’t let it, I can’t allow it to happen. Then it occurs to me that I am powerless. What can I do? No matter how much I beg or plead– tell them how great they are or how much I care about them, the despair of depression makes them believe everything you say is a lie.  Their own brain tells them they aren’t good enough, they don’t deserve anything, and there I sit, helplessly typing away messages to someone I would much rather be rushing to the side of, but yet, I’m here, trapped within my room. 

It’s a school night, a cleaning night, in fact, so we had to be on our floors at 9 pm, unable to leave. All I could do was try to type all my feelings into messages, just hoping they’d pick up on the other end. It is late and I’m emotionally and physically exhausted. I just needed to quiet my thoughts and release them a bit through this platform. 

If you have any advice for me it would be more than welcomed.  I honestly just feel so drained and hopeless, I hate to see someone falling into the depths of despair while I am left to sit and fester in my cage– sobbing– consoling as best as I know how.

TW:  Abortions, censored.

Let’s talk about one of the artists I’ve been listening to for at least a decade. This will probably have vulgar language (as it is Marilyn Manson) but I will censor it out. Marilyn Manson. I’ll admit, his music was weird to me as a young child, but my dad kinda pushed him onto me and I grew into it. For example, his song My Monkey, states:

I had a little monkey
I sent him to the country and I fed him on gingerbread
Along came a choo-choo, knocked my monkey coo-coo
And now my monkey’s dead
At least he looks that way
But then again don’t we all

And later in the song these words are sang;

We are our own wicked gods…

Sadistic and constantly inflicting a slow demise

The first quotation is a quote from the famous cult leader Charles Manson’s song “Mechanical Man”. Any Marilyn Manson fan knew of Marilyn’s fascination with icons Marilyn Monroe and Charles Manson and how they influenced the 1960’s. So,  naturally, Marilyn would be fascinated by Charles Manson. 

The second quotation is a reference to a song he would release two years later named Revelation #9. Which has a quotation: “Are all your infants in abortion cribs…” Which is a reference to when he found an aborted fetus inside of a coffee can.

The imagery of “infants in abortion cribs” metaphorically comments on the rejection of one’s child.

In his song, “The Beautiful People”, Manson protests societal views (as usual) when it comes to the once universal belief on beauty. 

“And I don’t want you and I don’t need you

Don’t bother to resist or I’ll beat you…”

These are the words of the beautiful/powerful people towards the ugly/powerless people. They don’t want them or need them but threaten them not to resist or they will be demolished. 

“…The weak ones are there to justify the strong

It’s all relative to the size of your steeple

You can’t see the forest for the trees….

There’s no time to discriminate…”

The first line is self-explanatory. As for the second one, it refers to a church’s steeple. It means that people compensate for their shortcomings by being more narcissistic.

The third line means that people are too focused on one aspect of things instead of taking other things into consideration. For example, say you’re one of “the beautiful people”. You’re concentrating on the homeless asking for handouts.  Thinking of the homeless as “dirty beggars” rather than focusing on an actual problem like,  “why are there so many homeless?”. 

The fourth line ties into that. This roughly translates to, “They think that they’re better than us”. 

The sixth line has to be my favorite in the song. It was practically my motto in middle school and still kinda is to this day. It just means to hate everyone equally because there’s no use in hating people for specific things that don’t matter. It takes too much time and effort to discriminate. 

So, out of these three amazing (I know it’s biased but I love Manson) songs, I have found a plethora of information that is relevant to today’s society and haven’t found a single one to be crazy at all. Yes, they’re colorful, but crazy? No. He’s one of the few artists who can turn societal norms into relatable topics and show us how poisonous they can be. In short, he’s just trying to humanize us a bit more. And we could really use that in today’s day and age. 

I know that there are many more Marilyn songs that I could decipher, but there’s always next week. So, if you want a specific song decoded, comment on the song. 

 I shall leave you all with a quote: “Music is the strongest form of magic.” -Marilyn Manson

So, I was gonna write about Halloween, my favorite holiday, but then I realized it wouldn’t be out in time, so unrelated story about me.  Well, this actually happened on Halloween, so somewhat related.  

I’m dressed in my Fran Bow costume, makeup done, just making tiktoks in my cosplay, ready for my school’s Halloween dance, when my phone rings.  Normally it would just be spam and I would decline the call but a name I recognized displayed on the screen.

The conversation was basically “Hello?’, “Hey”, “What do you want?”, “You doing anything tonight?”, “Not really, why?”, “Am I still on your pick up list?”, “Yeah.”, “Wanna hang out then?”  “Ok?”, “Alright, I’ll be there in 10, be ready, dress warm.”

Perplexed, I got my stuff together and went to check out, texting with him to figure out details.  At first they told me I couldn’t leave, I explained someone was picking me up from my drivers list, they asked if I had a parent email, of course the desk wanted to be difficult, even though he was on my driver’s list.  So, I call my mom and give a brief summary of what happened and asked her to send the email.  She is also confused because she already gave me permission to go with him.  But it ended up working out so whatever.

Anyways, I’m busy worried about what I’m gonna say. Should I be polite, should I demand an apology for being tossed out like garbage?  I had no idea.  So I walk outside and there he is, sitting on the bench.  I shyly greeted him and awkwardly walked to his car.  I open the door and a purge mask falls out. I pick it up and hand it to him, commenting on how it was cool and that I needed to watch that movie.  I then got into the car and we were off.  

On the way we just make small talk and once we get there the place is alive with light, people, and smells.  The rides were big and vivid.  We go up to the booth and each buy an armband and he helps me put mine on.  He asks me what I want to ride first and I ask what’s the best. He tells me his favorite and I tell him to lead the way.  As we make our way through the long fenced-in line I start to feel claustrophobic.  One girl did say she liked my costume though, that made me smile.  After a few rides and many jokes about my wig falling off, we went to check out the carnival games, which all looked pretty sad.  Then we went to the swings and while we were on there he started to twist my chair around.  I laughed and playfully yelled at him for it. 

After that though, he saw his ex and wanted to leave but wanted to ride the rollercoaster first. We both smooshed into the undersized seats, and as the ride started my knees banged against the front of the cart.  We then went back to the car, I would have preferred to stay longer as some of the other rides looked fun, but I understand wanting to avoid confrontation. 

We hung out a bit more after that but I’m sure you don’t wanna hear about all the kissing and crap, so I’ll just cut it here.  Overall, I had a really great time. I guess, if there is a lesson here, it’s to take risks, live life in the moment, and give people a second chance.